Majority of wanted offenders hail from Khyber Agency: police

At least 1,439 proclaimed offenders logged by K-P police are from the area

PESHAWAR: A significant number of proclaimed offenders (PO) are residents of Khyber Agency, and are wanted by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police.

“Currently, the number of proclaimed offenders from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas stands at over 2,356 – these offenders are wanted by the K-P police,” a City police officer told The Express Tribune. “Of the total, 1,439 are from Khyber Agency, putting the agency at the top of the list of places proclaimed offenders are from.”



He said most of the proclaimed offenders wanted by the K-P police from Fata are residents of Khyber Agency. The agency was recently in the crosshairs of two military operations—Khyber-1 and Khyber-2—highlighting the saturation of criminal and terror-related activity.

Following by a large margin is Orakzai Agency with 289 POs and then Kurram Agency with 162. There are 139 POs from Mohmand—even though strategically the agency is considered a substantial threat to security—while 150 from North and South Waziristan agencies. There are 117 POs from Malakand region while 93 are from various frontier regions.

A challenging city

According to the cops, at least 1,443 POs are wanted specifically by the City police – at least 1,162 from Khyber Agency and 111 from Mohmand.

“Peshawar is located adjacent to Khyber and Mohmand agencies and shares a border with FR Kohat (Darra Adam Khel) and FR Peshawar,” said the police official. “All these areas pose a challenge to peace in Peshawar, as once someone [an offender] enters Fata they are out of reach.” He added in the past seven to eight years, the number of POs has increased manifold as the police is occupied with militancy-related issues.

Criminal shelter

“Many wanted criminals are either directly involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom or they help other kidnappers,” said the official. He added it was time to crack down against offenders hiding in Fata.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2015.